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Daily Reports from Kong
Kong ...
ON THE BLOG
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Mon 17th, Day ONE
All seeds safely through ...
The 2008 edition of the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open started at
noon with the men's qualifying draw at the Hong Kong Squash
Centre, play got under way at 13.00 with 16 men's and 16 women's
qualifying matches.
There was a heavy home presence, with most of the matches
featuring at least one Hong Kong player, but no upsets as all
the seeded players won through to set up some intriguing
qualifying finals tomorrow.
Closest to causing an upset were Hong Kong's Max Lee, who
led Campbell Grayson 2/1 before the Kiwi recovered to
take it 12/10 in the decider, and Park Eun-Ok, who pulled
back a two game deficit against Liu Tsz-Ling but eventually fell
in the fifth.
So it's left to Ling, Joey Chan and Elise Ng to
try to boost HK involvement in the main draw, and there will be
no shortage of support for them, that's for sure ...
Men's reports from Framboise ...
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GALLERY
En Français |
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Men's Qualifying
Round One:
Renan Lavigne (FRA) bt Choy Kit-lun (HKG)
11/3, 11/4, 11/6 (18m)
Tom Richards (ENG) bt Wong King-yat (HKG)
11/3, 11/2, 12/10 (16m)
Julian Illingworth (USA) bt Wong
Hon-fung (HKG) 11/9, 8/11, 11/2,
11/2 (22m)
Julien Balbo (FRA) bt Roger Ngan (HKG)
13/11, 11/6, 11/3 (30m)
Chris Ryder (ENG) bt Martin Knight (NZL)
10/12, 11/0, 11/3, 11/5 (53m)
Simon Rosner (GER) bt Huang Cheng Yao (TPE)
11/8, 11/4, 11/6 (22m)
Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) bt Chu Yat-hei (HKG)
11/3, 11/3, 11/2 (14m)
Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) bt Armando Amante
(MAC) 11/3, 11/1, 11/3 (18m)
Yasir Butt (PAK) bt Nelson Chan Kai-chi (HKG)
11/8, 11/5, 6/11, 11/7 (36m)
Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) bt Wong King-ngo
(HKG) 11/1, 11/4, 11/1 (17m)
Scott Arnold (AUS) bt Wong Wai-hang (HKG)
4/11, 13/11, 11/3, 11/3 (46m)
Jonathan Kemp (ENG) bt Fung Ngo-long (HKG)
11/7, 11/4, 11/7 (20m)
Campbell Grayson (NZL) bt Max Lee (HKG)
11/4, 5/11, 6/11, 11/7, 12/10 (62m)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Anson Kwong (HKG)
11/8, 11/7, 11/8 (28m)
Mohd. Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) bt Yip Tsz-fung (HKG) 11/3, 11/2,
11/7 (22m)
Farhan Mehboob (PAK) bt Leo Au (HKG)
11/5, 11/5, 11/5 (23m)
Heather Deayton
and Iris Chung oversee the qualifying draw ...
Women's Qualifying Round
One:
Latasha Khan (Usa) bt Tong Tsz-Wing (Hkg)
11/4, 11/4, 8/11, 11/9 (37m)
Joey Chan (Hkg) bt Ahn Eun-Chan (Kor)
11/5, 11/0, 11/2 (17m)
Elise Ng (Hkg) bt Szeto Ka-Hei (Hkg)
11/4, 11/9, 11/6 (19m)
Kylie Lindsay (Nzl) bt Lee Ka-Yi (Hkg)
11/4, 11/4, 11/2 (17m)
Lisa Camilleri (Aus) bt Dorothy Ko
Sin-Ting (Hkg) 11/1,
11/7, 14/12 (23m)
Liu Tsz-Ling (Hkg) btPark Eun-Ok (Kor)
8/11, 5/11, 11/7, 13/11, 11/9 (40m)
Delia Arnold (Mas) bt Ho Tsz-Lok (Hkg)
11/7, 11/1, 11/0 (13m)
Joelle King (Nzl) bt Chan Wing-Hei (Hkg)
11/8, 11/5, 11/4 (15m)
Song Sun-Mi (Kor) bt Chu Ka-Hei (Hkg)
11/0, 11/4, 11/6 (23m)
Suzie Pierrepont (Eng) bt Karman Siu (Hkg)
11/9, 11/1, 11/4 (17m)
Lauren Selby (Eng) bt Ho Ka-Pp (Hkg)
12/10, 11/2, 11/4 (21m)
Sarah Kippax (Eng) bt Emma Pike (Aus)
11/5, 11/5, 11/3 (13m)
Dipika Pallikal (Ind) bt Victoria
Lust (Eng)
11/13, 11/8, 11/8, 11/7 (35m)
Emma Beddoes (Eng) bt Karla Chong (Hkg)
11/6, 11/4, 11/3 (19m)
Mami Nishio (Jpn) bt Carmen Lee (Hkg)
11/7, 11/7, 11/2 (15m)
Donna Urguhart (Aus) bt Leung Shin-Nga (Hkg)
11/5, 11/8, 11/8 (21m) |
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Tom Richards (ENG) bt Wong King-yat (HKG)
11/3, 11/2, 12/10
(16m)
GOOD PROSPECT
Framboise reports
That young player, who’s been training here in with Joe Wong
since he was 8, shows promise, and belongs I understand to HK
junior program. Only 15, he is not thinking about making a
career out of squash, and concentrates on his studies.
Very natural with a racquet, with some good retrieving skills, a
very nervous Wong surprised Tom a few times, in particular with
an excellent return of serve, and some lovely lobs. He would
need a bit of discipline with his length, as he abused a bit of
crosscourts for his own good.
With a bit more fitness, and some basic game work, this young
man could really improve his level I feel…
 It’s
good to get into the tournament, and to run around a bit…
Wong is a talented young player, he has some good shots and
found a few nicks. It’s always difficult to play that kind of
junior, you never know what’s going to happen!
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Julien Balbo (FRA) bt Roger Ngan (HKG)
13/11, 11/6, 11/3 (30m)
DIFFICULT ONE…
Framboise reports
Oh Lord. If a few of the first round qualifying matches are on
the easy side, Julien got the short straw! Roger Ngan, 29, has
been playing on the PSA circuit since ’98, and is a strong boy,
for sure!
His basic game firmly in place, he played an excellent tight
first game, and thanks to a superb backhand, was able to put the
Frenchman under a lot of pressure, and to be honest, I’m not
sure what would have been the outcome of the match had the HK
played taken the first game…
But after losing that crucial opener, Roger lost a bit his way –
and his length in the second. He eventually woke up in the
middle of it, but a bit too late.
Julien never looked comfortable, and will be very happy to win
that one in three…
"Funny, I was
alright yesterday, but today, I really had trouble moving, and I
just couldn’t put the ball past the service line…
"He is a very surprising player, he created a lot of trouble for
me today, and I’ll have to find a better game and get my act
together by tomorrow!"
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Julian Illingworth (USA) bt
Wong Hon-fung (HKG)
11/9, 8/11, 11/2, 11/2 (22m)
"Good to get into
the tournament, and get a feel for the court. Since my arrival,
I was told that none of the qualifiers would be playing on the
Centre Court, so I’ve been practicing on the other courts. It
then took me a while to get used to this one!
"A good match, and although I lost the second game, I always
felt that I was controlling the match and didn’t worry too
much…"
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 "I
think after the first game, he woke up a little bit.
"I don’t think I played that badly in the second, I just didn’t
seem to be able to take a point.
"Then he got a few nice shots, got himself a good lead, and
didn’t do much wrong after that.
"He changed his game, got more aggressive, taking the ball in
short. I guess I should have been more attacking myself,
especially on this court which rewards short balls, and make him
move around a bit more, but he was really good today.
"And of course, I’m disappointed…"
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Chris Ryder (ENG) bt Martin Knight (NZL)
10/12, 11/0, 11/3, 11/5 (53m)
ASPHYXIATED MARTIN
Framboise reports
If Chris Ryder played catch up in the first game, led 6/0, he
came back from 10/6 to 10/10 to finally lose 12/10, he was never
threatened again from that point on.
Not that Martin did anything wrong really, no string of unforced
errors, no tactical errors… No, only an English player in
perfect control of his space and game, who varied his game
beautifully, surprising the New-Zealander time and time again,
in particular on his backhand, finding some out of the blue drop
shots from the back of the court, and some nick volleys that
Martin just couldn’t return…
And don’t get fooled by a scoreline that may appear severe.
Those two battled hard all the way through, Martin trying his
best to length the rallies, and Chris his best to shorten them…
"You didn’t see
the whole of the first game? Good! Well, you are trying to get
used to the court, but that’s not enough in the end, and you end
up losing the game….
"I was pretty defensive to start with, and Jonathan Kemp told me
to push up a little bit, and to attack more. And after the first
game, I was pretty happy with my game really. I can’t say I was
that relaxed on there, but I was quite relaxed, happy with my
swing, taking the ball early… Happy days!"
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Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) bt Wong
King-ngo (HKG) 11/1, 11/4, 11/1 (17m)
"I come here pretty confident on the back of my victory in the
Pakistan Open, a few days ago, and I hope to perform here as
well as I can.
"If I was more or less happy with my fitness, I was aware that I
could improve the precision of my shots, so I worked on that,
and I’m happy with the results, although I know I’ve got much
work to do to take things further…"
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Nelson Chan tests Yasir Butt |
No worries for Frankcomb |
Rosner too much for
Huang Cheng Yao |
Jonathan
Kemp (ENG) bt Fung Ngo-long (HKG)
11/7, 11/4, 11/7 (20m)
"I was fairly comfortable, but another young player who is a
good one, they seem to really have a lot of them around, it’s
good to see, and it’s good for the game…"
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Scott Arnold (AUS) bt Wong Wai-hang (HKG)
4/11, 13/11, 11/3, 11/3
(46m)
SCOTT TURNED IT AROUND…
Framboise reports
Well, let me put it this way. I hadn’t seen Scott played that
badly before to start with. His length was completely off, his
tactics were wrong, he was hitting too hard at the wrong time
and in the wrong position, and don’t start me on his “corner
shots”, you know, the shots that hit the front corner, and shoot
straight right back at you…
In other words, I wouldn’t have bet any money on him after he
lost the first game, and until the middle of the second.
Wong was playing his part to perfection, I must say. Relaxed,
having nothing to lose, the HK player was just there and kept
piling on the strokes, as Scott offered them so kindly in the
first. But gradually in the second the Australian seemed to warm
up, loosening up, and started to cause problems to his opponent.
The second game was definitely crucial, and both players were
very conscious of it. I was downstairs, and the three refs were
up, but it seemed that both of the players got some weird calls,
even if it seemed to balance up in the end…. It was even funny
at times, as we didn’t know what was going on decision-wise, but
by the players facial expressions, we knew if it was a let
decision (when they expected a stroke), or a stroke (when they
expected a let!).
In front of the very large crowd, the home boy gave it his best
to try and get a 2/0 lead, but when Scott turned tables round
and got it back to 1/1, Wong seem to lose his way mentally, and
never threatened a Scott who will be relieved he didn’t have to
push his body to a fifth game…
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 "Well,
I got through…
"He played well, but it looked like he got tired he lost the
second. I was able to attack much more, got more aggressive and
shot a few shots in…"
Scott Arnold
Mentally, I got really down after losing the second game, I knew
how important it was to get a 2/0 lead, so I put all my energy
and efforts in there to try and close it out, but I just
couldn’t. And after that, my concentration went…
I know the refs are doing a good job, and my hat to them for
their hard work, but I was a bit unhappy with a few of their
calls, and at that level, one call can change the whole outcome
of the game…
Still, happy with the match overall…
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Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) bt
Armando Amante (MAC)
11/3, 11/1, 11/3 (18m)
"It was a case of
working my way into the tournament, so I was trying a few
things, like working on my backhand, finding good length, etc…
"I was happy that I didn’t feel too stressed to arrive and play
in a major tournament, I felt pretty relaxed, and that’s good.
"Tomorrow, I’m playing against Omar Abdel Aziz, last time we
played was a few years back, he was much lower in the ranking,
and I just managed to win that one. So this one should be
interesting!"
Aaron Frankcomb |
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Latasha Khan (Usa) bt Tong Tsz-Wing (Hkg)
11/4, 11/4, 8/11, 11/9 (37m)
Khan tested
A testing opener for Latasha Khan, in the longest match of the
day so far. The American took the first two fairly comfortably,
but lost the third and had to recover from 5/2 down in the
fourth to progress.
"I know they have
a lot of good players coming through here, Tony does a really
good job, so you can't afford to take anything for granted.
"I struggled to come to terms with the court, the ball was very
slidey in the third but she's used to the conditions. I just had
to try to cut out the mistakes, which is what you have to do in
11 scoring anyway.
"It should be a good match with Joey tomorrow, another tough one
...
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Lisa Camilleri (Aus) bt Dorothy Ko
Sin-Ting (Hkg)
11/1, 11/7, 14/12 (23m)
It was looking good for Lisa
Camilleri at 9/1 in the second, but it became a bit of a
struggle for the Australian to close the match out. A few errors
almost let Dorothy back into the second, and the HK player made
two comebacks in the third, from 1/5 to lead 7/6, and from 10/7
down to force extra points.
 "I
just relaxed in the second, and then again when I got to match
ball in the third, but she came back well.
"I've been here a few times now so I know what to expect from
all the players here, they're very talented and they always try
their hardest."
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Delia Arnold takes on
13-year-old Ho Tsz Lok |
Song Sun-Mi makes it two Koreans
into the qualifying finals |
Pierrepont power through against
Karmen Siu |
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Dipika Pallikal (Ind) bt Victoria
Lust (Eng)
11/13, 11/8, 11/8, 11/7 (35m)
Dipika wins a toughie
One of only two women's matches not to feature a home player,
this was one of the toughest of the day. Victoria got the better
of the endgame of a close opener but Dipika made good starts in
the next two to take the lead.
A good start for the English girl in the fourth, but a 6/2 lead
evaporated and Dipika took six points in a row to finish the
match, leaving a frustrated Victoria wondering where that fifth
game had gone ...
"That was really
tough, the scoreline might not say so but every game was tight
and tense. When I saw the draw and thought 'why me, when most of
the others have locals', but that's just how it goes.
"This is my first time in this tournament, the first time I
played Victoria, and it will be the first time I've played Emma
tomorrow. I saw her play at the world juniors in Cairo when I
was 11, haven't watched her play since then, but hopefully it
will be a good match ..."
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HK Squash Chairman David Mui and Tournament Director Tony Choi
watch the play ... |
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